Russ’ Shooting Slump and Thunders future.

When Oklahoma City Thunder were playing the New Orleans Pelicans on the 6th November 2018 Russell Westbrook rolled his ankle in the third quarter of the game after landing on Anthony Davis’ foot. Since then Westbrook has been struggling on the offensive end of the court. specifically his shooting and scoring. On the 23rd December he scores 8 points going 3-17 from the field and 0-4 from 3. Other than that game he has been averaging 19.1 points a game and even got 40 against the Phoenix Suns on the 29th December. Then on the 30th he got a low 9 points against the Dallas Mavericks shooting 4-22 from the field and 0-8 from 3. In the end the Thunder only lost by two points 105-103.

Then we go to New Years Eve. Thunder vs Mavericks again and Westbrook got 32 points shooting 13-24 from the field. He also got 11 assists and 11 rebounds getting him yet another triple double.

During the course of his shooting slump he seems to have taken a backseat offensively and he is letting Paul George take more shots resulting in Geogre getting more points most games. This is good because it allows him to focus on other parts of his game such as the defensive end. Specifically steals. He got three games with 6 steals and one with 5.

Considering missing six games after this injury occurred and two games at the start of the season Westbrook is still averaging a triple double for the third straight season. Some call it stat padding. I call it phenomenal.

Hopefully against the Los Angeles Lakers for the first game of 2019 Westbrook’s shooting will be back up to standard and the slump will be over.

If the slump is over then this team could be serious trouble. With the big three of Russell Westbrook, Paul George and Steven Adams and the now not so new addition of Dennis Schroder. Along with Alex Abrines, Jerami Grant, Hamidou Diallo and Nerlens Noel Thunder could be serious championship contenders.